Switzerland Tourism Board - content for Summer Magazine 2019

  • Lucy Fuggle
I created content to promote Switzerland's hiking trails for their 2019 Summer Magazine. As part of the project, I joined photographer http://stefantschumi.info/ on a hike on the Via Alpina, one of the country's most beautiful hiking trails. Our collaborative writing and photography will be published for the piece in 2019.
There are few things I love more than the first few steps of a hike. Everything suddenly becomes simpler. All you need to do is put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Your only goal is the path ahead. You always get something out of it, but you can never tell what until you lace up your boots and get going.
One of the most beautiful parts of the hike will come tomorrow, when I reach the ridge over Kandersteg and see the glacial blue of the Oeschinensee twinkling under the sun. At its eastern side, there are small waterfalls splashing into the lake, with a few fishermen in their boats close by. When I get to the lake, I’ll dive in, happy to have brought my swimsuit. The Oeschinensee is nature’s own bath for weary hikers, and if you’ve walked the long distance from Griesalp, you deserve it. Don’t expect warm waters, though; this is glacial meltwater, after all. The water instantly wakes you up, coursing blood through your veins.
Mountains bring me back to myself. A long hike, a night in a mountain hut, and time spent with rocks, flowers and the birds: they show me that life is simpler than I sometimes think. On a long hike like this, I learn more about myself and see what fills my mind when I’m away from the world, my work, and device screens. I recognise when I’m stressed out and can start to rebalance myself. I open up space in my mind, and creative solutions to my problems or worries appear out of nowhere. I always step away from the mountains with a renewed sense of where I want to go next in life.